TW: Mention of abuse

"George, what's going on? We should be back with the others."

"I know Marie, but there's something that I need to tell you, something that I don't want the others to be knowing just yet." The sixteen year old took Marie's hands in his own. They were in an empty hallway. Everyone else was in the cafeteria eating. That was where they should have been, but George claimed that he had something important that he needed to tell her.

"Look, Marie…" George sighed softly as he bit his lip. "I know that Paige told us that we shouldn't be fraternizing with others-"

"She means like, dating though." Marie was confused by this point. "We aren't dating or anything, we're just friends."

George shook his head. "But the thing is...I don't want to be just friends anymore Marie. I...I like you, hell, I might even go so far as to say that I'm in love with you."

"W-what?" Marie's dark eyes were widened as she stared at George in shock. "George-"

"I get it." George said immediately, it was like he had been expecting to be rejected by her. "I know that you probably like Newt-"

"What? What on Earth gave you that idea?"

"Well, it's just that you two have been hanging out together so much-"

Marie shook her head as she started to laugh. "I hate to break it to you, but Newt isn't a romantic option for me Georgie. As hot as I think British accents are, he has a thing for Harriet. That's why he's been spending so much time with me, because he's trying to figure out a way to tell Harriet that he likes her."

George blinked in surprise as Marie continued to laugh. "But...but I thought-"

"Newt is like a brother to me, he always will be." Marie took George's hand. "The thing is George...I...I like you too, but I'm just scared. What if they find us out?"

"They're not going to, I promise." George said firmly, moving his hand up to cup Marie's face. "I love you, and that's something that they're never going to take away from us." He leaned in closer, their lips inches away from meeting…

Marie woke up with a gasp. What the everloving shuck was that? Slowly she brought a shaky hand to her lips, which George had almost touched. Had that been just a dream? Or was that too a memory that she had long forgotten? She could remember absolutely everything else about WICKED, about the boys that she had been in the Maze with, so why couldn't she remember anything about George? Maybe instead of having all of her memories taken away, her father had set it up so that she just didn't remember anything about George. Of course, Jansen hadn't been counting on George actually being alive and hiding out in the Maze. Marie ran a hand through her hair. It was still dark out, maybe about four o clock in the morning or so, but Marie knew that she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. For once, it would be wonderful if she could just sleep through the night. And so, she went to the place that she always went to when she couldn't sleep. When Marie couldn't sleep, she went into the infirmary. She couldn't go through the Deadheads at this hour. Well, she could, but she wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

When Marie arrived at the infirmary, she saw that a light was on. Frowning,she walked inside. Teresa was awake, sitting up on her bed.

"The sleeping beauty awakens." Marie commented dryly, and Teresa looked at her in confusion. "Who are you, where am I?"

Anyone else would have fallen for it, but Marie could see through her as plainly as a person would be able to see through a clear glass. "Cut the klunk Teresa, I know that they let you keep your memories, and unlike in my case, you wouldn't be nearly killed if you talked about them with anyone. Your arrival here is the beginning of the end, but let me tell you something. If you hurt any of these boys, I swear to almighty God that you'll regret it."

"Marie-" Teresa started to say, but Marie shook her head. "Just shut up, I don't want to hear a word that comes out of that traitorous mouth of yours."

"Oh, I'm the traitor?" Teresa said with a scoff. "You were the one that was willing to go against WICKED, against Ava, against your own father."

"I haven't considered him to be my father in a long time." Marie said coldly. "Did you know that on my twelfth birthday, he beat me for stopping a guard that was beating up on one of the Group B girls? Every time that I did something that displeased him, I would wind up with new bruises. But I didn't care about that. You know what I did care about though? Getting those boys out there out of this wretched place. What WICKED is doing to them is torture, plain and simple. And before you go spouting off about how this is all for the greater good, you can save your breath because I don't want to hear it. If doing things for the greater good means that innocent kids get tortured and killed, than the greater good can go to hell, and you can too. I really had thought that you were my friend, but I guess that was all a ruse huh? A way to find out was I was planning."

"Marie…" Teresa's voice was soft and gentle, she was trying to get Marie to let her guard down. "You were my friend, I was just doing it because I cared-"

"You did it because you knew that it would get you on Ava's good side!" Marie's voice had increased in volume,and it was surprising that the boys outside couldn't hear them.

As it turned out, one of the boys did hear them.

"Marie?" Thomas had walked in, his black hair a mess from having been asleep. "What's going on? Why are you shouting?" He looked from Marie to Teresa.

"I have no idea what she's going on about." Teresa said, a look of utmost innocence on her face. "She just came in and started shouting at me."

"Thomas, don't listen to a word that she says! Teresa, she-"

Fiery pain shot through Marie's head, and the girl crumpled to the ground as she screamed in pain. This was so much worse than it had been the last time, this time, the pain was so terrible that it felt like her head was going to spontaneously combust at any moment. And it didn't stop either, the pain just kept coming and coming, never ending, never ceasing. Marie vaguely heard Thomas shouting in alarm. She saw the blurry image of him, spots of black clouding her vision. She could see him saying something to Teresa before running out the door. Where was he going? Why was he leaving? The pain increased tenfold, if that was even possible. Marie wished that she could just black out, at least then she wouldn't be able to feel the pain. Then, the familiar dark colored face of Jeff appeared over her. He was talking to her, shouting at her, but Marie couldn't understand a single word of what he was trying to say to her. Alby was there too, yelling at Teresa, asking her what had happened, Teresa responding that she didn't know, that Marie had just come in there ranting and raving like a lunatic.

Marie felt something pierce her in the arm. A needle. Marie felt drowsiness consuming her, and at last she was able to succumb to the heaven that was sleep. Her eyes closed, and she felt pain no more.